Sunday, March 29, 2015

Today's guest blogger is the wickedly talented author, Michelle Monkou. Join us at R8 this week as Michelle talks about Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum. Welcome, Michelle.

In my college day, I joined the newly formed Drill Team. We
marched in formation where uniformity, smooth transitions, difficulty of
choreography, body placement and alignment and so much more mattered. If there
was going to be a solo performance, the person did her part and then, fit right
back into the formation so we could move as one. The performance was a hit when
our peers cheered from the bleachers and then offered a rousing ovation at the
end.

And that was probably the last time that I participated in
anything where I’d been in step with others, matching my movements with the
group, and staying in my lane.

One to Love is released April 1, 2015

You see, from the moment that I can remember my parents and
teachers reading to me, they unlocked my imagination to release a creative
spirit that would no longer be caged. From the childhood books by Enid Blyton
that made me want to head off to boarding school for the fun times, or from the
Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys series and creepy Alfred Hitchcock series that made me
fall in love with suspenseful tales, or the beginning of my love for romance
with my high school consumption of Barbara Cartland’s and Harlequin/Mills and
Boon’s books, I devoured story after story because it fed my voracious appetite
to jump in and stay a while.

That love for books probably decided my college major in
English. I can still remember my passion for the Arthurian legends and talking
about them in class. Add Dickens, Shakespeare, Faulkner, and Dante to the mix
and my reading palette expanded, soaking it all in. After college, the writing
bug hovered and zapped me at the right time with a wonderful infectious desire
to start writing my own stories.

Once I carved that outlet for my imagination, I knew that
being an author was my passion. While people offered advice about the hardships
of writing, the odds of success, the difficulty to making a living from
writing, and on and on, I still kept at the dream. I’m not going to bash the
messengers for accuracy to some of their messages. I think it’s always necessary to be aware of
the realities. But that’s when the drum beat sounds for only me to hear--a beat
in rhythm with my steps, my passion and desire to be a writer.

Going on 13 years from the first book, Open Your Heart, published by BET Books, to my upcoming April
release, One to Love, with Harlequin
Kimani, I have enjoyed this sometimes solitary, offbeat journey marching to the
beat of my own drum.

Michelle Monkou

is a multi-published author with over 20 books in print and digital. She began her writing career in 2002 with Black Entertainment Television (BET) Books, Arabesque imprint. She writes contemporary romances, paranormal/urban fantasy, and publishes her backlist and original stories on her independent digital platform, Stella Maris Publishing. Her stories speak to the heart and offer that happy-ever-after ending for the romance fiction reader.

Michelle is also an active participant with romance writers’ advocacy efforts. She served on the boards and as president of Washington Romance Writers as well as president of the 10,000-member Romance Writers of America organization. She’s a weekly contributor on USA TODAY’s Happy Ever After Blog providing commentary on romance fiction.

She resides in Maryland writing many more stories to fill the hands and e-readers of romantic bookaholics. Michelle's One to Love is available for purchase this week. Preorder your copy now and catch Michelle's fabulous other titles if you're looking for your next great romance novel to read.

Writes contemporary romance as Mackenzie Lucas. Find me on twitter @MacLucas_writer and on Facebook at MackenzieLucasFanPage. Lucas holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, a B.A. from Dickinson College. She's a writer, writing coach, editor, mother of three, wife, and life-long writing student. She's published four books with Soul Mate Publishing and Indie pubbed five additional titles. She's represented by literary agency McIntosh & Otis, a Pro member or RWA, belongs to the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance, and holds office for her local RWA chapter (Washington Romance Writers) as president.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

From childhood on, I think I've seen every film and television episode featuring those fictional super-spy guys at least a dozen times. And as a grown-up, I still love to catch them when I can. But you know what? Even in childhood, I wondered why should guy spies get all the fun?

That question, and my grown-up answer, is how I came to write The Kill Shot(Random House Alibi), Book #2 in the Jamie Sinclair series, which hits the virtual shelves this week!

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

The Kill Shot stars Jamie Sinclair, a private-investigator-turned-security-specialist who was raised by her tough-as-nails father. Of course, after an upbringing like hers, Jamie's no shrinking violet. Still, she has a soft spot in her heart for stray dogs and a particular military police officer named Adam Barrett.

So when Jamie travels to London to safeguard a State Department courier at the insistence of her demanding father, she can handle an ambush or two...until a would-be assassin opens fire on her on the cobblestone streets of Covent Garden. Worse yet, someone takes down the assailant with a single kill shot and Jamie could swear the face of the shooter belongs to Barrett himself. Except Barrett is supposed to be 3,000 miles away.

So who's lying?

And who's spying?

Jamie must find out when that single kill shot plunges her into an international game of cat-and-mouse.

You can pick-up your very own copy of The Kill Shothere or anywhere e-books are sold. And I hope you will. Because with Jamie on the case, those guy spies really don't get all the fun!

I'm a writer, broadcaster, and military spouse who's worked on-air and behind-the-scenes writing, editing, producing, and promoting content for radio, television, and the PR industry across the United States and Canada.
My thrillers, THE KILL LIST: A JAMIE SINCLAIR NOVEL and THE KILL SHOT are available from Random House's Alibi. See http://www.randomhouse.com/book/247923/the-kill-shot-by-nichole-christoff or order anywhere ebooks are sold.
My fiction has won both the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart and the Helen McCloy-Mystery Writers of America Scholarship. I've been shortlisted for a Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, too.
I love nothing more than getting lost in a good book . . . unless it would be trying to write one!

Monday, March 9, 2015

So... guess who was afflicted with a near terminal case of Spring Fever, compounded by Spring Forward brain fog, and forgot it was her turn to blog?

Yes, that's right, it was me. Sigh. Cue the "wah-wah" music.

To pay tribute to the force which bested me this weekend, here are three of my favorite quotes about the evil genius known as Time.

Douglas Adams

In addition to being the drop-dead funny writer of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and other books, Adams was apparently a notorious scofflaw when it came to deadlines. Looks like I'm in good company!

Groucho Marx

Famous for his cigar, his heavy greasepaint eyebrows and mustache, and his razor-sharp wit, Groucho and his brothers overcame an impoverished childhood to become one of the biggest comedy acts of the early 20th Century. Whenever I get stressed about time, I try to remember this quote. It kind of translates to: You can't control everything. Just go with it.

Lao Tzu

It's not surprising that the man whose writings are the foundation of the Taoist philosophy has a lot of impressive things to say about life! I actually find this quote kind of intimidating, but it's also inspiring. I would love to have this kind of deliberate and conscious attitude toward time! Gives me something to work toward.

So, do you have any advice for me on coping with deadlines? And how have you been dealing with the time change?

Writer. Reader. Aspiring cat lady. I like to drink coffee and use smiley-faced emoticons, sometimes at the same time.You can read all of my R8 posts at this link, and/or (hopefully "and!") visit me at my website: MishaCrews.com

Sunday, March 1, 2015

So who doesn't love rock stars? In this day and age, they come in all genres of music. Whether it's pop music, country music, rap, hip hop, new age, etc. What draws us to rock stars?

They're larger than life. They are the best at what they do. And they're usually sexy as all get out. Well, at least my favorites are sexy. There's something about their voice and their story-telling ability that draws us in and hooks us. The songs they sing touch us, they move us, they tell us something about ourselves and our culture. They are the poets of our time and the chroniclers or our present state. Through them we see ourselves and our generation reflected in the lyrics and music they write. We can tap into emotion through music and the songs we hear. We visit the past and are pulled back to memories evoked by the music of the rock stars of our childhood and teenage years. We've been formed and shaped by the music and words of artists we've internalized. Words that lull us, teach us, challenge us, heal us, recharge and energize us.

Katy Perry in Vogue Magazine

I'm fascinated and drawn to rock stars, as many readers are these days. I love the larger than life status. The expertise and hard work they pour into their creative careers to achieve their goals. They inspire me.

As you can see by at least two of my photos, a few of the artists who inspire me are Katy Perry, Keith Urban, Little Big Town, Imagine Dragons, John Legend, Blake Shelton, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, and many many others.

In my new contemporary romance release, Every Heart Sings, which is out on March 4, 2015, I explore what happens when a rock star loses his way and needs to re-find his voice when he has creative differences with his manager. By going back to his musical roots and helping to mentor a young teenage boy, Josh Nicodemus becomes the artist he needs to be and discovers what it is that has helped form him along the way. Of course his interaction with heroine Jordan Drake pushes Josh to face the fissure in his past with his grandfather--the primary relationship that formed him creatively.

Josh has his own work cut out for him because Jordan Drake allows the fear of her own past as a former childhood actress to trap her on Serenity Island, a dying island community, and she refuses to support her nephew, Tony, who wants nothing more than to become the next big rock star. In Every Heart Sings, rock star
Josh Nicodemus finds his true voice and true love when he helps former actress
Jordan Drake break out of the self-imposed prison she’s created for herself in
Serenity and at The Down Dog Café.A whole island of quirky characters comes together to meddle, forcing
Josh and Jordan to admit their love for each other and help expose the
injustice done to Jordan’s sixteen-year-old nephew, who is more than a little
music crazy and a huge fan-boy of Josh Nicodemus.
Find my hot contemporary romance at Amazon.

Stop by and let me know a few of your favorite rock stars. And why you love them. I'd love to know.

Writes contemporary romance as Mackenzie Lucas. Find me on twitter @MacLucas_writer and on Facebook at MackenzieLucasFanPage. Lucas holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, a B.A. from Dickinson College. She's a writer, writing coach, editor, mother of three, wife, and life-long writing student. She's published four books with Soul Mate Publishing and Indie pubbed five additional titles. She's represented by literary agency McIntosh & Otis, a Pro member or RWA, belongs to the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance, and holds office for her local RWA chapter (Washington Romance Writers) as president.

Sunday, February 8, 2015

My erotic romance novella, The Dom of My Heart, comes out in the
erotic romance anthology Hot Encounters
released by Soul Mate Publishing on February 26, and I couldn't be more excited.
I read an excerpt from chapter one last night at Lady Jane’s Salon - SilverSpring.

Normally, I write hot contemporary
romance. And in most of my stories, I toe that line between steamy sex scenes
and erotic romance. This time, I boldly stepped over the line. Why, you might
ask? Mostly, because I like my romance hot and, this time, I wanted to explore
the concept of power dynamics between two characters. I love writing sex
scenes. I've never been one to shy away from writing them. I don’t like the
bedroom door closed in the romance I read and write because, for me, it’s all
about the emotional and physical connection between two people. Romance and
love is tightly intertwined with the mating ritual of sex. Period. For years,
women have been ridiculed and put down for reading trash or mommy porn if they
read romance or erotic romance novels. And romance writers, of all genre
writers, often bear the brunt of sly, back-handed compliments and snikers about the smut they write or they
experience out-right sexual harassment because they celebrate women who are
sensual creatures--those characters who are not afraid to discuss and explore
sexuality and the dynamics of sensuality between them and their lovers.

Mackenzie Lucas reading at LJS

Romance is primarily a genre written
by women for women. Erotic romance celebrates the beautiful sensuality at the
core of the mating ritual. It is a genre where women get to define and redefine
what it means to be sexy, smart, strong, beautiful, and powerful for themselves.
So the next time someone ridicules you for reading or writing romance, give
them that knowing smile and tell them you’re redefining hot. Because what you
do when you read or write romance is tap into the human condition and celebrate
the most beautiful connection in the Universe. And that’s a pretty awesome.

Later this week (Feb. 10 & 11) I’m
attending and also coordinating Washington Romance Writers volunteers at the
Library of Congress’s What is Love? Romance in the Digital Age conference--an event that’s
free to the public. At the conference, they’ll be screening The Popular Romance
Project’s documentary, Love Between the Covers. I’m excited about this event
because panel after panel is filled with educated, articulate women who write,
study, and read romance novels. I’ll be interested to see what they have to say
about the state of the romance novel, erotic romance, and the peek the romance
genre gives us into our popular culture and the human condition. I have a
feeling they’ll say romance is thriving.

Writes contemporary romance as Mackenzie Lucas. Find me on twitter @MacLucas_writer and on Facebook at MackenzieLucasFanPage. Lucas holds an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, a B.A. from Dickinson College. She's a writer, writing coach, editor, mother of three, wife, and life-long writing student. She's published four books with Soul Mate Publishing and Indie pubbed five additional titles. She's represented by literary agency McIntosh & Otis, a Pro member or RWA, belongs to the International Association for the Study of Popular Romance, and holds office for her local RWA chapter (Washington Romance Writers) as president.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

I recently spent a weekend
sorting through my fabric bins. Grays in one pile, purple in another, low
volume over there, blue over here, with sub-categories of turquoise, aqua, navy,
periwinkle, and, well, blue. Same with the greens. Chartreuse, lime, emerald,
mint, grass. Purples (lavender, fuchsia, grape, raspberry sorbet). Oranges that
look so fabulous with blues and greens. Finally, red was divided into pinks and
red. That's it. No other sub-categories. No brick and cherry and pomegranate
and merlot. Just a very small pile. Obviously, I don't own a lot of red fabric.
I don't tend to gravitate towards it in stores, I'm not sure I own any red
clothes - well, a tee-shirt, maybe. Not much else.

When I think of the colours
that I normally surround myself with, it is generally blues and greens of
varying shades. Colours of the beach, of the Ireland, of the forest, of wine
bottles, of leafy green vegetables, blue cheese and even Fresca. I wear green
and blue almost every day from my jewelry to my reading glasses to my clothes.
It makes me calm and at home, like browsing in a bookstore or sitting on the
couch with my dog. Cool as a cucumber.

It is one thing to be aware
of a preference or like. To know that I prefer a house that alludes more to a
beach than a Victorian front parlor. But being risk adverse and in a rut can be
mistaken for remaining calm and even tempered. I reached the end of last year
and wondered was I any different than I had been in January? Had I gone
anywhere? Tried anything new? Umm. No.

I have a strong memory of me
as a child, maybe 4 years old, during show-and-tell at school. I wanted
everyone to know I'd got new shoes. Red maryjanes. There's photo of me at about
2 in a blue corduroy dress, and yes, red lace up shoes. I was not always
RED-adverse. I was joyful and wanted to go forward into the fun that only RED
shoes could take me.

And that's why this year I
am going RED. RED isn't calm. It isn't subtle or tranquil or peaceful. Don't
get me wrong. I am a big fan of those things. But I am finding that action is
needed in my life. Emotion. Risk. Not just to breathe but to gasp. And perhaps,
like the child I was, it is time for me to put on my red shoes and go forward
into whatever 2015 has for me.

Welcome!

Each week, join one member of the Rockville 8 as she gives her take on writing, reading, loving and laughing.

The more, the merrier... every Monday.

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